OK, so the title of this post might be a little hyperbolic, but not by much. Perhaps I should revise my title to read "some Republicans are evil and hate poor people". Which is, incidently, quite Randian of them. Anyway, if you don't know what I'm talking about, what follows is a summary of the Flint water crisis.
| [The] drinking water contamination crisis in Flint MI started in April 2014 after Flint changed its water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water (which was sourced from Lake Huron as well as the Detroit River) to the Flint River. The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, causing extremely elevated levels of lead. (Wikipedia/Flint Water Crisis). |
What we're looking at here, IMO, is negligent homicide at the direction of the MI governor, Rick Snyder. For which people should go to prison (people including the governor).
| When Governor Snyder took office in 2011, one of the first things he did was to get a multi-billion dollar tax break passed by the Republican legislature for the wealthy and for corporations. But with less tax revenues, that meant he had to start cutting costs. So, many things - schools, pensions, welfare, safe drinking water - were slashed. Then he invoked an executive privilege to take over cities (all of them majority black) by firing the mayors and city councils whom the local people had elected, and installing his cronies to act as "dictators" over these cities. Their mission? Cut services to save money so he could give the rich even more breaks. That's where the idea of switching Flint to river water came from. To save $15 million! It was easy. Suspend democracy. Cut taxes for the rich. Make the poor drink toxic river water. (10 Things They Won't Tell You About the Flint Water Tragedy. But I Will by Michael Moore. HuffPo 2/01/2016. |
BTW, they (Snyder and his administration) knew pretty early on that there was a serious problem, but they decided to keep it quiet, while switching some (big business interests like GM) back to the good Lake Huron water.
Can you believe the level of indifference/depravity this took? Yeah, that's why I'm with Michael Moore on this... he says Snyder should be arrested and prosecuted. Hell, if it were possible for Snyder to receive a fair trial I think he could be convicted of murder and receive the death penalty. Of course that ain't going to happen.
Apparently Cher tweeted about this and suggested that Synder be executed by firing squad (with the use of the hashtag #FIRINGSQUADWORKSFORME). OK, so 88% of criminologists do not believe the death penalty is an effective deterrent and (as a Progressive) I am opposed to the death penalty (for this reason, among others). But I'm going to go ahead a SAY that in Snyder's case I think we should make an exception. But only because it will outrage Republicans.
SWTD Tags: Michael Moore, Republican Racism.
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